Both Uses
ecstasy
in
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
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- I ran to the house in Soho, and (to make assurance doubly sure) destroyed my papers; thence I set out through the lamplit streets, in the same divided ecstasy of mind, gloating on my crime, light-headedly devising others in the future, and yet still hastening and still hearkening in my wake for the steps of the avenger.†
p. 98.6 *
- Half an hour from now, when I shall again and for ever re-indue that hated personality, I know how I shall sit shuddering and weeping in my chair, or continue, with the most strained and fear-struck ecstasy of listening, to pace up and down this room (my last earthly refuge) and give ear to every sound of menace.†
p. 108.6
Definitions:
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(1)
(ecstasy as in: ecstasy of love) a state of intense happiness
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) More rarely, ecstasy is used as the street name of an illegal drug known to produce feelings of euphoria, but associated with damage of the central nervous system.
Still more rarely, ecstasy can reference a trance, frenzy, or altered state of consciousness marked by overwhelming emotion -- especially joy from a religious experience.